A/N: I've started publishing a new story. It's a sequel to that self-insert fic I wrote, taking place twenty years later. Imagining who I might be so far into the future is really interesting.

Anyway. This chapter is a bit of a heavy one. Prepare yourself.

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Konan

Only when Konan forced him to explain his actions did Original Hidan realize their importance. He stopped in the middle of describing his argument with Zetsu. "Hey wait a fucking second. I left that other doll with them. You wanted a really fast way to pass messages, right? If one of the dolls stays with them, any of the other dolls can open a portal any time you want. Message accomplished."

Konan sighed. "Please return to your story." After he finished, she nodded, then said, "This, too, is technically a solution to our desires as stated. But is it workable? Will the dolls allow themselves to be permanently missing a member? How will we rotate them? Does a person step through the portal, or do we ask a doll to cross through with a written message? Will Obito and Zetsu agree? There are many things to consider before we declare this to be our answer."

He swished his tail. "Still, though. I'm the one that figured out a way to solve your problem. Didn't expect that, didja?"

"I did not," Konan agreed. "You are full of surprises." She let him preen for several seconds, then added, "But I was quite prepared for the possibility that you would impulsively provoke conflict by airing private grievances in public. Zetsu's conflicted feelings would have worked themselves out in time. You did not need to paint them as a villain to everyone in earshot."

"He is a villain though. We all are."

"They, and not anymore. None of the clones are like that."

Hidan huffed. "What-fucking-ever. I just did everyone here a favor, and now I want a nap. Bye." He walked off without waiting for permission.

Konan sighed again. Perhaps I should give him more credit for his accomplishments. But did he have to use such blunt methods? She watched Little One magically attach his paper kite to the front of the lobby desk, where it served as a giant white diamond-shaped decoration. The doll didn't seem to be bothered. If he wasn't bothered, why should she be? Konan put on a smile and left Little One in the lobby, heading for Original Nagato's last known location. How surprised he would be when she told him Hidan had solved their puzzle!

Another training session was being conducted in the backyard, this time focusing on jutsus. She found her old friends supervising clones as they practiced various jutsus, exactly as expected. "Konan!" Yahiko called with a wave. "Do you have any advice on special jutsus?" He added in a much quieter voice, "It might help them get back on track."

The clones, also as expected, were hard at work practicing extremely basic jutsus that nobody more than a week out of the academy would give a second thought to. They were probably going to come up with a way to use Substitution Jutsu to annihilate an enemy army at any second. "I do not, and be glad for it," Konan replied. "This is valuable practice. I did not come here to participate in training; I came to share with you good news."

"Please do," Nagato said.

"Original Hidan may have solved our problem of how to communicate with Zetsu and Obito."

Yahiko blinked. "Really? He looked more like he wanted to start a fight."

Nagato also looked surprised. His mouth briefly fell open before he gained control over himself. "How did he do this?"

Konan repeated Hidan's description of the portal that Solis had opened. "It appears that the dolls can open portals like these near any other doll, at any time, without needing any kind of additional information."

"Is there still a doll with them?" Yahiko asked.

"Yes. He took Little One back, but left Solis behind." Konan glanced over at Nagato. He didn't dare visibly show joy, but she saw his lips twitch. Even after a week of trying, none of the originals seem able to get along with the dolls as naturally as the clones can. Even Kakuzu interacts with the dolls with a degree of mutual respect that the originals lack. Original Yahiko gets along with them the best, but even with him, something is missing. What is this missing thing, and why is it lacking?

"So we're going to be trading those two back and forth? I mean, Warlic and Manta don't seem like suitable dolls to send out. Zetsu wouldn't like them."

Instead of answering, Konan studied Yahiko's face. What would Clone Yahiko have said?

Yahiko studied her back. "Do you disagree?"

"Your clone would have asked if Little One was upset about being kidnapped for a day," Konan replied. She looked away. "You don't fully acknowledge them as living beings, do you?"

"...Was he upset?"

"No. Perhaps he did not realize that leaving him behind was unintended. He could very easily believe that we, in our usual godlike way, placed him with those people for very important reasons that he will never understand but must never question. The dolls do seem to see us that way." Konan looked Yahiko in the face and was glad to see him mildly ashamed. "They are not summons. Even if they were, I suspect that any living being whether summoned or not would be treated as a friend in this world. A friend, a child, a guest - anything except a beast of burden or a tool. Getting along with many kinds of beings in this world will require that you understand this."

"It's hard," Yahiko muttered. "They're dolls."

"They have no faces," Nagato added.

Konan understood where they were coming from, but also understood the clones' perspective. "I will amend my words. Beasts of burden and tools are to be treated as friends, too. Everything and everyone is to be treated as a person - the clones even extend this courtesy to abstract concepts. There is no category of being that is exempt from being treated like a person with feelings. This is one of the many distinctions we recognize that the clones do not."

Neither original knew what to make of this. "They see air and rocks and things as being alive?" Yahiko asked.

"No," Kakuzu replied. Konan hadn't realized he was close enough to listen in. "They have nature spirits in them, but aren't literally alive."

Konan pointed to the rocky platform with the cracks in it. "Imagine smashing that platform to rubble."

"Why would I do that?" Kakuzu asked. "It hasn't done anything to earn that fate." Too late, he realized he'd been set up. He turned away and rejoined the training.

"It doesn't matter whether or not something is alive," Konan told her old friends. "Inflicting destruction is an act of cruelty, regardless of what the target of this act is. They seem to perceive actions and the emotions behind the actions as being unchanging, as always having the same meaning, regardless of context. Inflicting destruction out of anger is always cruel. Helping another get to their destination is always kind. They will feel guilty for destroying a weed and proud for carrying a rock downhill. In their minds, these are ways of practicing actions that they will need to perform later in the company of people. A form of training, in other words. They take their training very seriously."

"Hey Konan?" Deidara called from across the yard. He crossed the yard and stood on the steps of the porch. "I can use Substitution Jutsu to switch places with things I know about but can't see, and when Hidan makes his clones they always appear like a foot or two away from him, yeah. Can you learn to control where clones form and make them appear on the other side of a wall, then use Substitution Jutsu to switch places with them, so basically teleporting yourself to the other side of any barrier? Do I get the right to name it since I thought of it, yeah? I want to call it Clone Teleportation Jutsu."

Konan shot her old friends a smile. "Whatever their idea of training is, they will pursue it with the utmost sincerity, and complete sincerity often achieves surprising results. Do not interfere." To Deidara, she said, "That is a very good idea, and it would be worthwhile for anyone who already uses clone jutsus to learn to do this. However, people who don't already use clone jutsus might be better served finding other ways around obstacles."

Deidara grinned and ran into the yard. "Hey Hidan! She says it's genius and you should totally learn to do it, yeah!"

"Fuck yeah! We're ninja geniuses! Woo!" Clone Hidan punched him in the shoulder. They laughed together. Kakuzu looked skyward as if praying for some deity to rescue him from these embarrassing children.

Konan smiled. "It helps that the clones have a lot in common with the dolls. Really, aside from the lack of facial features, they fit right in." She turned her head to follow Deidara and Hidan as they ran across the backyard to find a good spot for practice. They looked just like Warlic and Manta. She shook herself. First dogs, now dolls. I see my groupmates in all manner of other creatures. Am I getting too sentimental? "Anyway. I shall brainstorm possible applications for the dolls' newly discovered portal ability." That was her excuse for making a hasty exit.

It's not wrong to see many things as being similar to each other, is it? More connection, more common feeling, more empathy: these things have not caused harm. It is the lack of them that causes the world's evils.

Konan knew she was on the right track. She just wondered how she could possibly explain herself to anyone not on the same track. Perhaps, at some point, she would be too far gone. Nobody would ever be able to understand, no matter how hard she tried to explain. The only hope she had was that by the time she reached that point, her old friends would hopefully have decided to follow her.

Itachi

Itachi's heart fluttered with anxiety. He hadn't thought he would ever see a member of his family again. He knew he should tell Konan about Yahiko's call, but could not bring himself to do so. He tried everything to restore himself to a semblance of calm. He took a walk through the forest. He attempted to read a book. He listened to Deidara and Hidan describe their new idea and practiced the techniques they had practiced. He found Little One sitting on the lobby desk next to the lamp and asked the doll to sit outside with him instead. None of it worked.

Perhaps I should confront my fears directly. "I am afraid," he said aloud.

Little One turned and looked up at him.

"A long time ago, I hurt people. My own family, who I lived with and who guided my life, just as we humans guide yours. I then left the place where I lived and set out on my own. It was very hard to live on my own without anyone to look after me, but I never expected anything else. Being cast out from my family is only the natural consequence of hurting them. I am not afraid of being alone."

Little One tilted his head. Itachi smiled and reached out to pat the doll's plushy white hair. "I am afraid now because I have reason to think that someone from my family lives nearby. I wonder if they are one of the people who lived with me. I wonder if they know about the hurtful things I said, and if so, how they feel about me. I am afraid that…" What am I afraid of? I must answer this question, or else my fear will never disappear. "...I am afraid that they will not be angry with me. I am afraid that they will be loving and forgiving. I am afraid that they will tempt me to return to the life I had before. In the years that I've been living on my own, I've found a lot of happiness. I don't want to abandon this newfound happiness. I don't want to even have the option to. Because I am afraid that if I did have a choice, I would choose wrongly."

His fear vanished. What training and reading and walking couldn't do, a single sentence did instantly. He took his hand back. "And now that I have said that, I am no longer afraid. Because I know that I wouldn't make the wrong choice. I would never abandon the people who need me now. I can trust myself."

He and Little One sat in the grass for a while longer. Eventually, he spoke to the doll again. "I am excited about meeting a relative. I wonder what we have in common."

Madara

Everything was sliding. Everything was uncertain. Madara wasn't surprised. Life itself could not be trusted; if you didn't maintain unwavering control over yourself and your environment, chaos would ensue. Unfortunately, his control had wavered. Madara considered this to be 100% certain, a fact, because he never attributed anything to any source outside himself. Whatever happened to him must be a consequence of his own actions.

He punched Yahiko in the face. The other man fell to the ground, but twisted midair to land on his hands and push himself back up. He stumbled away, looking back with a wounded expression. Then his face cleared. "Madara?"

Madara didn't say anything. To respond was to allow yourself to be influenced. He couldn't afford that.

Yahiko rubbed his cheek. After some hesitation, he sat on the nearest curb. "Will you tell me what you think?" he asked. "If you talk, I'll listen."

They had been walking along a street in town. Passersby had exclaimed in shock at the initial punch, but nobody interfered. Useless cowards. Madara paid them no mind, focusing only on the man who had become his greatest enemy. He did not sit next to Yahiko. Accepting an invitation, even an unspoken one, was also a way of accepting influence.

Yahiko waited. When it became clear that he wasn't going to get a response, he cleared his throat. "I guess I'll talk then." He folded his hands in his lap. "According to Tobi, you and I are the same. We're both powerful forces, both dragons."

Dammit! Madara saw where his control had slipped. He didn't know anything about Tobi other than the fact that this childlike personality existed. He could not perceive them, and Zetsu never spoke of them. Until now, Madara had assumed this unknown personality was little more than an annoyance. This explains everything. I must counteract this "Tobi."

"We're very different, though," Yahiko continued. "Your methods are very direct and to the point, while I use a softer approach."

"Tell me about Tobi," Madara interrupted. Interrupting was a great way to deflect another's influence.

"Um, okay," Yahiko said. "Tobi is basically the sort of child Obito never got to be. Happy, confident that the people around him will look after and love him, things like that. Like a vision of an alternate life, made real." He paused, expecting a response. Madara did not give one. "The thing about Tobi is, since he feels so secure and confident, he doesn't think twice about making his vision into reality. He basically comes from another life, and when you put him into this life, where Obito was surrounded by unsafe people who hurt him, well, Tobi sort of…remakes that. Tobi can't literally change the past, but he does whatever he can to change the present, to make it into the sort of joyful alternate life Obito could have had and should have had."

Madara's fists tightened. The ultimate fool. Denial of reality extreme enough to get him committed, if only he would make himself known to the proper authorities. This "Tobi" is leading us all down a path that will end in prison, an insane asylum, or death. I must return us to the right path. Madara was aware of how hard his life was. He understood that most people would recoil from slaving away day and night protecting and helping people who would never appreciate your efforts. He could have felt sorry for himself, but did not. That was his life. He lived it. End of story. There is no "alternate life." Such thinking is the root of all evil.

"Tobi's methods really work," Yahiko said. "If you treat people as if they can be trusted, they live up to it. If you treat people as if they're backstabbing scum, they live down to it. Tobi really can and does have a positive effect on your lives. He's not your enemy."

"Delusional child." One day, he will understand what a mistake it is to believe such things.

"No," Yahiko retorted. "I look around, right now, and I see with my own eyes how happy the people around me are and I feel with my own skin how good I feel. I literally see and feel this stuff right now. That's the opposite of delusional."

It's useless to try to educate fools. Madara looked around to see if anyone or anything relevant had appeared. Nothing had.

Yahiko went on. "You must think you're doing something good and worthwhile. Everyone does. Do you see the good consequences with your own eyes? Do you feel them and hear them? Or do they exist only in your mind?"

He was already on his feet and sprinting away by the time Madara whirled around, which showed intelligence. Madara growled and fought to keep himself from sprinting after his adversary. That would be giving in. That would be letting himself be influenced. But how insulting! To suggest that he, Madara, was the delusional one! I am the only one who sees this world for what it really is! I am the only one who can cast aside the lies and find the truth!

To his horror, he realized that this - feeling emotion - was a sign of being influenced. Somehow Yahiko had gotten to him. But how? Madara was sure he had guarded himself on all sides.

Zetsu

We screwed up. We screwed up big time.

Stop obsessing! Obsessing won't improve anything.

He ran away from us, Ani! Obito ran away! White Zetsu brought tears to their eyes. Black Zetsu rubbed his away.

The doll with the yellow dot on its forehead followed them around despite the fact that Zetsu hadn't spoken to it or even looked at it for the past six hours. Zetsu ignored it now, too. They had tried searching for Obito everywhere. Finally, desperately, they looked for him in the last place they wanted to look, the place whose kind and welcoming plant life now filled them with guilt at how unkind and unwelcoming they had been. They searched the entire park, inside and out, on and off the trails. They did not find Obito, but they did find a conviction that Obito had been there. The last place they looked must have been the first place he went to. White Zetsu had made them sit down and curl up into a ball, thinking We missed him and it's all our fault, and they'd stayed in that position ever since.

Tears did not begin to express this sadness. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth would not even hint at how totally, thoroughly, utterly and completely they knew they'd screwed up. Every bone and fiber in their body knew they'd made a mistake. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to escape from this horrible knowledge. Maybe White Zetsu was right. Maybe the only thing they could do was marinate in that knowledge until they were pickled to perfection.

It was hell. Zetsu would gladly have flown a thousand kites in the middle of a windstorm rather than feel like this. But they couldn't make that trade, so they were out of luck. We screwed up. He left us, and we deserved it. They listened to thoughts like that, over and over and over again, for too long. Even a second was too long. How many hours did they spend listening?

Can we move on now? Black Zetsu asked again. This time, his thoughts were flavored with resignation rather than frustration. He was tired. He just wanted this torment to be over.

Night had fallen. They could hear insects buzzing around the little pond and small animals splashing in the shallows, but could see only a faint strip of moonlight rippling on the water's surface. Maybe? White Zetsu wondered. His thoughts weren't hopeful. He was just tired too and wanted to go to sleep.

We can look for him again in the morning.

No. We won't. We'll do something different this time, Ani.

Yes. Clearly, we need to.

In the morning. When the sun's back. They fell sideways, closed their flytrap leaves over their head and let the darkness take them.

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A/N: I like thorough, bone-deep knowledge. I find it reassuring. This sort of knowledge can't ever be false. Sometimes I'm mistaken about what it means, but it always means something true.

So then...

Another week, another chapter.